Friday Rucht Hour: And Now For Something Completely Different

When not playing RPGs, I do a fair bit of video gaming, miniature gaming, and boardgaming. Since I have quite a bit invested in Warmachine, and this is mainly a miniatures blog, I'll be posting some of my Warmachine pieces here as well.

Here's my Wraith Engine. For those of you who aren't into Warmachine, Privateer Press released large "battle engine" models for use in their miniatures line. The Wraith Engine supposed to be a necrotech creation. A steampunk, necromancy cross-breed of terror.

Now, the regular Wraith Engine model doesn't have all of the figures on the bottom. It comes with a large, blank base, about the size of a CD. A friend of mine, Nick, marveled at the massive blank base and suggested that I create a scene on it. I got inspired and did it.

Here's the regular Wraith Engine is supposed to look like with standard base.

The feminine model on the base is a Reaper model - a ghoul queen. I had this idea in mind from the start that the Wraith Engine should have a handler. A person that guides it around, tells it what to do. The best part of the ghoul queen mini is that it came with a ruined stained glass window as part of its base. I set this apart on the Wraith Engine base to suggest a locale for the scene, so the whole thing has this sense of taking place in a ruined, haunted location.

Then, getting inspired by the original artwork for the Wraith Engine, I wanted to feature some dying figures on the base, with their souls getting sucked out. The soul part was easy. Privateer Press has a bits & parts store where you can get things like drifting souls. But finding dying miniatures took a little digging. I went with some Old Glory miniatures of some dying pirate/buccaneers, that fit Warmachine's fantasy setting. As you can see, two of the figures are lying prone, with their souls getting sucked out while a third kneels down in despair. I couldn't have been happier with their poses.

I just applied the dying miniatures onto a plastic rock plateau that I literally got from my birthday cake last year. Then, I finished the base off with gravel and washed it with a light brown. In the pictures here, it's before I applied the wash to the gravel, so the ground appears whitish.

Hope you guys enjoy!

All for now.